Background Story

This is quite a cliché yet extremely sad story.

After being adopted, the Cen family initially treated Cen Shuangluo as one of their own and didn’t tell him about his true identity. This continued until he was eight years old, when the Cen family had their own child, making Cen Shuangluo’s existence rather awkward.

His treatment at home plummeted, and during an argument, he was told about his background. From then on, the Cen family treated him even worse. They tried several times to send him back to the temple, wanting to return the child. But it wasn’t something that could be easily done, especially since the temple was receiving fewer offerings and didn’t have the resources to take in an older child, only able to give him some food.

At eight, Cen Shuangluo became a temple handyman, cleaning the temple and wiping the statues every day. The half-grown child became heavy-hearted, often staring blankly at a maple tree and frequently talking to himself in front of the statues.

If this continued, perhaps one day the abbot would take him in as a disciple and shave his head. However, the changes in the statue could no longer be concealed. The townspeople considered the statue a demon, and the monks in the temple couldn’t hold on and fled overnight, naturally not taking Cen Shuangluo with them.

After turning eight, Cen Shuangluo slept in a corner of the Buddha Hall. After living like this for a few years, one morning he woke up to find the temple completely empty, everyone had left, leaving only him behind. Since they had fled, they naturally didn’t leave any belongings. Only some unsuitable-to-carry rice and flour remained in the temple.

With nowhere to go, Cen Shuangluo had to stay in the temple, surviving on the remaining food and continuing to wipe the statues. But such days couldn’t last long.

The Cen family’s youngest child fell ill, and after unsuccessful medical treatments, they suddenly heard that the adopted son was still in the temple worshipping a demon. They believed Cen Shuangluo had harmed the child and rushed to the temple with sticks.

Cen Shuangluo was beaten until he was lame, the main hall was left in a mess, and the statue cracked down the middle. The next morning, someone saw Cen Shuangluo limping away from the small town. He was only fourteen that year.

Before he left, the changes in the statue weren’t too drastic. However, during the four years after Cen Shuangluo left, the statue’s appearance became increasingly bizarre. Initially, there were still vagrants staying overnight in the temple, but eventually, no one dared to enter, and the place became completely abandoned.

Ying Wuchou listened to the old man’s story, expressionlessly sipping some cold water. He knew why the statue had changed more in these four years than in the previous fifty.

Although the scales were divine objects, they couldn’t just randomly change the shape of stones; otherwise, with the seven scales he had hidden in the cultivation world, his face would be everywhere. The main reason was that the residents had carved the jade into a statue and worshipped it day and night, placing their emotions on it.

Too much emotional attachment gradually “brought to life” the lifeless scales, and as the scales “lived,” the statue’s appearance changed. But this “life” depended on the people’s faith.

Ying Wuchou had already severed his connection with the scales. His divine sense remaining on the scales would fade over time. If the people’s faith in the statue remained, this attachment would erase Ying Wuchou’s divine sense, and the statue’s appearance would become increasingly sacred according to the people’s beliefs.

However, as the temple received fewer offerings and the townspeople became wealthier, they stopped coming to worship. The “living” scales lost the emotional attachment from the townspeople and needed emotions to continue “living,” so they began to condense Ying Wuchou’s divine sense.

After the last caretaker, Cen Shuangluo, left, the statue quickly transformed completely into Ying Wuchou’s likeness. Fortunately, the place had become a forbidden area, rarely visited, so no one knew the statue resembled Ying Wuchou. Otherwise, in the tavern just now, someone might have come to burn Ying Wuchou.

He needed to go back and destroy the statue’s head, or he would become a demon in this town.

At this moment, “Ning Chengying” had already returned with a new axe, looking quite upset and silently chopping wood. He was young and strong, and with magical power, he soon finished chopping all the old man’s wood.

“Chengying, come have some water,” Ying Wuchou placed a ladle of water in front of “Ning Chengying.”

The old man thanked them profusely for finishing all the chores at his home.

“This is what we should do,” Ying Wuchou said to “Ning Chengying,” “Chengying, let’s leave after drinking the water.”

“Ning Chengying” put down the ladle and followed Ying Wuchou away.

“Take me back to the temple,” Ying Wuchou said.

“Ning Chengying” helped him back to the temple, and they stood before the statue that increasingly resembled Ying Wuchou.

“Chengying, the townspeople see this statue as a demon, and it looks too much like me. You should destroy it to avoid future misunderstandings,” Ying Wuchou said.

“Ning Chengying’s” expression froze, showing reluctance and unwillingness. He squatted down and carefully wiped the statue with his sleeve, his movements familiar, as if he had done it countless times.

From his familiarity and attachment to the statue, his complex expression when seeing the maple tree, and his reaction to the name “Cen Shuangluo,” Ying Wuchou had basically confirmed that the fake Ning Chengying was indeed Cen Shuangluo.

With the identity confirmed, there were even more questions.

From the old man’s story, Cen Shuangluo was just an ordinary child. Even if he was taken in by a master at fourteen, it was impossible for him to become a cultivator at the peak of the Golden Core stage in just four years.

Even if he were an evil cultivator who absorbed others’ powers, it would take time to refine the stolen powers. Due to physical limitations, a person couldn’t bear such a vast amount of power. Even if he received the inheritance from predecessors and had true essence infused through a technique, he would need years of nurturing with medicinal stones before his body could withstand and perform the techniques.

In just four years, transforming from a rootless ordinary person to someone at the peak of the Golden Core stage was almost impossible.

At least, with the cultivation techniques Ying Wuchou knew, it couldn’t be done.

He could even seamlessly transform into Ning Chengying and had an unusual submission to Ying Wuchou…

Cen Shuangluo had too many secrets.

“Chengying, why haven’t you acted yet?” Ying Wuchou asked.

Cen Shuangluo opened his mouth but couldn’t bring himself to destroy the statue that had accompanied him for six years. He looked at the statue, then at Ying Wuchou, and suddenly thought of an excuse.

“Master, this statue looks too much like you. I can’t bear to destroy it; it feels disrespectful to you,” Cen Shuangluo said.

“That’s true. I can’t see the statue’s appearance, so I forgot about this, making things difficult for you,” Ying Wuchou didn’t blame Cen Shuangluo.

He felt his way to the statue, covering it with his long sleeve, and the half-statue flew into Ying Wuchou’s sleeve universe.

“I’ll keep the statue for now and decide what to do later,” Ying Wuchou said.

Cen Shuangluo looked thoughtfully at Ying Wuchou’s sleeve, seemingly pondering how to get that half-statue.

“Chengying, I’m tired and need to rest for a while. You go outside and stand guard,” Ying Wuchou had something to do and sent Cen Shuangluo away.

Cen Shuangluo skillfully found an old meditation cushion from a hidden cabinet in the main hall, took off his outer garment, and covered the cushion with it, saying to Ying Wuchou, “Master, sit here.”

After doing all this, he finally left the temple, standing under the maple tree outside, lost in thought.

After he left, Ying Wuchou sat on the cushion and sighed slightly.

When he first met Cen Shuangluo, he thought this person had skinned Ning Chengying and was someone with ulterior motives. At that time, Ying Wuchou was secretly pleased, thinking he must take Cen Shuangluo as a disciple, even though he had just vowed not to take any more disciples.

Who knew Cen Shuangluo would turn out to be a seemingly obedient child who respected his master, which made Ying Wuchou quite disheartened. Such a good child shouldn’t become his disciple.

At this moment, the jade slip, which had held back for a long time, couldn’t resist anymore and emitted a dim green light.

[Analyzing important scene…]

[Scene: Fake master and disciple meeting]

[Characters: Cen Shuangluo, Ying Wuchou]

[Cen Shuangluo: Pretending to be Ning Chengying to approach Ying Wuchou, motives unknown.]

[Ying Wuchou: Failed to take a disciple. (Due to an unhealthy master-disciple relationship, Ying Wuchou has some misconceptions about the master-disciple identity, seemingly equating it with the relationship between a jailer and a prisoner. According to database analysis, Ying Wuchou’s cognitive dissonance is a form of mental illness, so Ying Wuchou is a trans…)]

Before the words were finished, Ying Wuchou took out the jade slip and statue from his sleeve. The moment he grasped the jade slip, the words in parentheses disappeared.

“Use the scanning function. I want to know the whereabouts of the other half of the statue,” Ying Wuchou commanded.

Author’s Note:

There are still 300 random red envelopes today. Love you all (づ￣3￣)づ╭~